Hi folks,

I was planning to top up our prepay mobiles phones before we go because they are tri-band and will work over in Canada......... it then occurred to me.......... would they really?

I am not the most technically minded when it comes to phones and wondered if anyone successfully uses their UK mobile in Canada?

If anyone does use them - what do you do about the international codes...... if I phone a UK number I would use the UK code.......... do I need to use the international dialing code for Canada when in Canada...... does the network know that is where I am dialing from?

Mrs Madmac

hi there
in my experience only ......
we were going over for a 3 month stint , so i went all out and treated myself to a v500 quad band telephone ...... i am on pay as you go orange , having gone all out when buying to makesure that this would do the job , i was totally dissapointed when in fact it didn't work at all ,

i went into a roger's store which incidentally is linked to orange uk , so you would have thought i would have stood a good chance , the guy in the store was great , he said if my sim card works in yours then we are up and running...it didn't , it was locked , the only thing he said i could do was go onto a web site , ( WHICH HE GAVE ME ) and pay $20 to get it unlocked , i really couldn't be bothered , i was so dissapointed

however, my brother is on bt contract and has never had any problem with his phone working either in America , or canada

i hope this helps , but as i say thats just my experience ,
sharon

Thanks for that..... I am "T-Mobile" and hubby is "Virgin Mobile" ...... anyone used them with any success?

Hi

1. As the next posters suggests, go to either your phone supplier or the web and get your phone unlocked.
2. When you come to Canada, go to one of the cell phone suppliers (don't use mobile, nobody will know what your talking about) and buy a pay as you go sim card. Probably $30 with some time on it and it gives you a local number. You best bet is one of the stores in the Asia malls.
3. IF you use your UK phone in Canada without changing the SIM, every local call is a long distance one.

Yes and no -- it's called roaming. But you shouldn't have to dial the +1 and you will very probably have to dial the 01144 prefix for the UK.

I base this on using my American phone in the UK where I had to add the +1 to call the US and switch to the 0+number convention rather than 01144+number to call within the UK.

I have Cingular wireless & before that AT&T -- never a problem in the UK or Europe.

Yes. I have virgin and have used them from both the USA and Australia no problem once you have roaming.Tracie

For about $65 you can buy a pay as you go phone here (includining $10 call time)..... it's not the cheapest package for local calls though, but we only use it for contact (pick me up, Mum!) type calls.

To call the UK, we buy prepaid cards with an access number you can use on any phone, and the cost is 4c/min to UK. Local calls are free with land-lines, so if we use our land-line and phone card it is really VERY cheap to keep in touch with folk in the UK.

We brought our Nokia tri-band with us, we are currently staying with friends in Mississauga Ontario, and the phone works well with the pay-as-u-go card we bought here.

We have called the UK, US, and other provinces, and it works well.

Did you mean using a UK bought phone with a Canadian SIM card? That's what I've been doing successfully for the last year - using a UK unlocked tri-band on Rogers. Beware that the only GSM networks in Canada are Rogers/Fido afaik, so if you want to use your UK bought phone you're stuck with those. And make sure your charger is dual-voltage or that you have a transformer/can buy a 110v charger for it here.

In one of the previous posts, Morwenna mentions a card that you can buy to get UK calls for 4c. Does anyone know where you get these from?. Also, I'm in the same sort of dilemma in that I'm not sure whether to get a triband here or wait till I get there ?. Does anyone know roughly how much on average it costs to send a text to the UK and if there's much difference in price when you use a UK or a Canada SIM (network dependant of course)

many thanks

RJH

Rogers SIM to UK - 20c per text. Can't remember what it was costing me in reverse although 49pence rings a vague bell (for a text sent to the UK from an 02 SIM roaming in Canada). Your SIM provider should list the costs on their website.

Edit: yep, it was 49p per text on 02 (talkalot payg plan).

hi there
when we are in canada , and also my family over there
we buy VOX telephone cards or VOX plus $10 $20 to call uk
you can buy them at shoppers drug mart store , or the post office

you get around 600 mins for $20 to call england , some have a connection fee which around $1.49 per call , but if you follow on calls , you only pay one connection fee , and some now have no connection fee , but you get less minutes

that the best one we found upto now
sharon